New Recruit

[TieFighterPilot181st]

A heavily modified TIE Interceptor dropped out into the region containing the Mon Cal cruiser Home One. Outside the viewport the pilot saw 2 New Republic A-Wings approaching him rapidly.

: : Unidentified starfighter please identify yourself. Failure to comply will result in your ship being shot down. Please acknowledge.
: :

: : This is Independent Sienar Fleet Systems Tie Interceptor #5830456. I am requesting docking clearance on board the cruiser Home One. I also wish to speak with Captain Lion El' Johnson.
: :

The pilot sat back and waited to the reply that would soon come

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion's eyes glinted as a fighter dropped out of hyperspace...it had a pair of angular wings that looked oddly familiar...

"Sir! TIE Interceptor has entered the region. Non-standard design, Captain!"

Lion whipped around towards the scanning center of the Home One's bridge. As flagship of the New Republic, the Home One naturally had an extensive scanning and communications array.

"Lieutenant Herallan. Scan that TIE Interceptor for any weapon systems. I want a full report on its capabilities."

He turned back to the communications array.

"Lieutenant Riemann...scan that ship. Is it broadcasting any friendly ID signals?"

The Lieutenant quickly turned to his board and lightly tapped the keyboard. A second later, he shook his head.

"No, sir. No friendly identification at all." Lieutenant Riemann replied.

Lion thought to himself...what would one TIE interceptor be doing out here?

"Lieutenant Herallan...is that scan completed?" he asked towards the scanning station, which was a flurry of activity.

"Yes sir! We detect numerous weapons systems. Turbocharged Laser Cannons, and twin Concussion Missile Launchers. The weapons are in standby mode..." Herallan replied.

"We'll have to assume it's hostile, then." He tapped his communications headset and opened a link to Starfighter command. The bridge had become a flurry of activity.

He spoke into the headset.

"Commander Wallace?" he said, addressing the Leader of Green Squadron, an A-Wing squadron based on the Cruiser. "Get your boys into the black. We have an unidentified TIE Interceptor that dropped out near Home One. It's modified with twin Concussion Missile launchers. Do NOT engage except in self-defense."

The headset crackled a bit, and Lion could hear the sounds of a door whooshing open.

"Yes sir. It's been too damn long since my boys saw some action. I'll keep you patched into the Squadron's channel, sir."

Lion grimaced and walked along the top floor of the bridge towards the immense viewport blister, listening to the sounds as two A-Wings prepped for launch. At last they were into space, and rapidly approached the TIE Interceptor.

He frowned when the pilot announced its intentions...who had an independent Squint? And who would know him? Then, it hit him, like a bucket of Icy Water.

"Green 2, Green 3...escort that Squint towards the Main hangar."

The channel crackled a bit.

"Um, Captain...are you sure?" asked Green 3, and Lion smiled, just a bit.

"Just do it...I'll take responsibility." Lion said.

"Yes sir!" came the reply, and Lion opened a channel to the Interceptor.

"Attention, unidentified fighter...You're being escorted towards hangar bay A4-62. The Deflector shields are being dropped in that region only. Follow the A-Wings and the course we've fed to your computer. Deviate more than 20 meters from that course and you'll get a nice bump on the nose. From what I've seen, I don't think your nose can handle any more bumps..." Lion said, throwing in his favorite phrase.

(ooc: Welcome to the NR! :D)

[TieFighterPilot181st]

Soon a reply came crackling throug the comlink


"Attention, unidentified fighter...You're being escorted towards hangar bay A4-62. The Deflector shields are being dropped in that region only. Follow the A-Wings and the course we've fed to your computer. Deviate more than 20 meters from that course and you'll get a nice bump on the nose. From what I've seen, I don't think your nose can handle any more bumps..."\

The pair of A-wings slid into escort formation around the Tie. The pilots of the A-Wings didnt seems experienced to the TIE pilot threw the throttle wide open and raced towards the hold in the sheilds. The pilot threw the TIE into a series of barrel rolls as he passed throug the hole in the sheild roaring into the hanger at maximum speed. Startled pilots and technicians looked up and wondered what a TIE Interceptor with the markings of the Imperial 181st Fighter Group was doing in the hangar bay. THe fighter roared towards the rear wall of the hangar and at the last moment cut the power pivoted and came to a halt knocking down three technicians who had been standing by. Throug the viewport a tall man in a captains uniform flanked by 6 guards strode into the hanger acting not too surprised

[Lion El' Jonson]

(ooc: PUNCTUATION!)

IC:

"Jesus CHRIST!" was heard over the headset as the Interceptor rocketed into the hangar bay.

"Damnit, Captain! DID YOU SEE THAT SH--!?!?!?!"

Lion took a deep breath and tapped the headset.

"I saw it...Green 2, Green 3...return to hangar for debriefing. Sorry about that, boys." Lion replied, trying not to smile...it hadn't been anything less than he expected from the pilot of that Interceptor.

The pilots swore again, then said:

"No problem, captain...I'm gonna whack that punk if I ever find him...I could've sworn I saw an Imp. patch on that punk's wing..."

With that, he turned towards the hangar bay, summoning a Disaster-Control team to meet him there. He also made sure that four guards met him in the hangar.

The turbolift descended rapidly, and Lion felt his stomach drop a bit before it came to a slow stop. He turned and stepped around. He immediately noticed four things:

One, the disaster control team was starring around the hangar, wondering why the hell they had been summoned down here.

Two, the guards had their weapons trained on an enlarged, pure black TIE Interceptor.

Three, there were three technicians struggling to get up, a look of surprise on their faces.

Four...the fighter still had the markings of the 181st Squadron. The A-Wing pilot hadn't been wrong afterall...

"Unidentified Pilot...I am ordering you, by the power invested in me by the New Republic Senatorial Constitution, to step out of your spacecraft with your hands up. Make no sudden movements, and don't power your craft back up...any other actions will be treated as hostile movement. The four guards here could put so many laser bolts through you that there wouldn't be enough left to burry..."

He stood parade-ground straight, making sure that none of the guards got any...ideas...

[TieFighterPilot181st]

After the TIE landed the pilot heard the message

"Unidentified Pilot...I am ordering you, by the power invested in me by the New Republic Senatorial Constitution, to step out of your spacecraft with your hands up. Make no sudden movements, and don't power your craft back up...any other actions will be treated as hostile movement. The four guards here could put so many laser bolts through you that there wouldn't be enough left to burry..."

He smiled to himself and took of his flight helmet and climbed out of the flight hatch. However his foot slipped and hit the button that popped a light turbolaser out of the pod's bottom. One of the guards brought his rifle into line and prepared to fire.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Oh, crap..." was all Lion said before the two guards with a clear line of fire brought their rifles up.

The one in front of him pulled the trigger. A red beam of light shot forth from the front of the rifle and hit the side of the fighter. It richochet off the cockpit and extinguished itself in the wall panels.

The guard didn't get a second shot. He was lining up to fire again when a blaze of blue fire sliced the end off of his rifle. The guard cried, surprised, and tossed his sputtering weapon away before it exploded. Lion swung his brilliant blue saber up and across and caught the second guards blaster right at the handle, completely severing the power pack from the gun. The guard shook away his suddenly bisected weapon and looked up at Lion.

"Stand down, troops! Jesus, at least use Stun shots!"

The troops quickly tossed away their guns (those that still had guns, anyways...) and starred up at their commander, a look of astonishment and a strange mix of fear and respect displayed on their faces.

"Pilot! Retract that turbolaser immediately, or I'll bisect you...I still have a weapon..."

He pressed down on the sword's handle, and the blaze of plasma disappeared into the grip. He clipped it to his belt and waited for a reply.

[TieFighterPilot181st]

There was a brief flash of light and the blasters were no more.
Then shouted words were heard through the transparisteel.

"Pilot! Retract that turbolaser immediately, or I'll bisect you...I still have a weapon..."

" Sorry about that Cap'n my foot slipped, wont happen again. So long time no see. What does the New Republic have you doing nowadays. You have a very nice ship here."

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion stared around at the slightly charred wall and the shattered blasters and whistled.

"Great "foot slip", my friend...I'm currently part of the New Republic as a fleet commander. A fleet I haven't gotten yet..but it'll come. So now, what about you? Last time I saw you, we were running guns in the Al-Rashid Sector."

He smiled and kicked the ship's floor.

"As for the Home One...she's a nice place to run a military from...and not a bad home, either..."

[TieFighterPilot181st]

Nice to see they have you busy my friend. I think you should fill you men in as they seem quite confused. I have been around lately. Just last week i was escorting some civilian convoy in the Outer Rim and we were jumped by some Uglies. We drove em off pretty quick. Im just freelancing. But know i think its time to settle down and get a full time job, join the StarFighter Corps maybe. Hey im starved how about we get some food first. Could u have your techs check the port laser array, its not operating at optimal strength as of late.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion grinned...yup, he hadn't changed at all.

"Easy, dude. So, you want to join the New Republic? I have no doubts of your fighter skills, but I think you might want to command a fighter squadron...maybe even an entire wing."

Lion turned to the still confused troopers and ordered them:

"Sergeant, get your men up. I'm sorry about that little incident, Sergeant. I know this man. I won't come to harm."

The sergeant looked up, motioning for his men to rise, then said:

"Yes sir! Sorry about the mishap, sir!"

Lion just nodded, and added:

"You can return to your regular station, Sergeant. I'll put in a commendation for you. Your men handled themselves amazingly well. Dismissed!"

A look of hope brightened on the troopers face, and then vanished as he snapped to attention.

"Thank you, sir. Fall out, men" he added, and his squad marched away.

With that done, Lion turned back towards his friend.

"Alright, so I'm fairly sure you'll like to do starfighter duty, old friend."

He pulled out a datapad and began jotting down information. After a few minutes in silence, he tossed the datapad to TieFighterPilot181st.

"Just fill in the rest of the blanks...your name, your age, stuff like that. I'll make sure you get into the Starfighter Corps."

He waited, and then added:

"After all this junk is done, how about we get dinner? There's a remarkably good Sushi place on the 3rd concourse, and it's open right now..."

Lion consulted his watch, grinned, and thought: "Only Tie would bother showing up at 2:30 am..."

[TieFighterPilot181st]

commanding a starfighter unit might be my kind of work. since the rumor is you might even get a fleet command soon arent u in need of a fighter commander?
So ill fill the form our in a minute, but id like to get some food first because im starved. I've been living on ration bars for the lst 2 weeks.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion pulled a face.

"Ick! Ration Bars? Yes, I agree that you need some food, man."

Lion thought a bit, then said:

"I don't know about my own fleet, but I'll definitely need a wing commander on one of my cruisers. Follow me to the Sushi place, and we'll talk more there.

[TieFighterPilot181st]

well i hope u got enough credits because im starved. alright lets go right now. The two men begin to walk towards the turbolift at the ends of the hangar.

[Lion El' Jonson]

As they walked, Lion smiled.

"Don't worry, I get officer's privledges. That includes free meals!"

He turned back to the datapad as they stepped into the turbolift.

"Floor 28, 3rd concourse." he said to the turbolift.

His stomach dropped slightly as the lift rose. Tuned percussion beat softly from the small speakers. He turned to Tie to continue their discussion.

"So, what craft do you have experience flying? Besides that thing." He pointed in the general direction of the hangar where they had left the Squint.

[TieFighterPilot181st]

"I got a lot of experience in different types of ships. I could fly and X-wing because i always usesd to fly a skyhopper as a child. i coule fly any type of corellian ship you could name. Ive seen the cockpit of an A-Wing so i could fly that. I can fly a Y-Wing but would really prefer not too. Also i forgot but could you get your techs to get my R2 unit to a power station so he can recharge."

The turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"I think an X-Wing would be a good choice." Lion agreed. "We might also want to run you through the E-wing and B-wing simulators...our B-wing squadrons are looking a little lacking these days."

Lion pulled out his comlink.

"Lieutenant Riemann?" he spoke into the comlink, trying to talk to his communications officer on the bridge. There was a faint crackle, and then:

"Yes, sir?" came through.

"Lieutenant, can you get someone to pull that R2 unit out of the TIE Interceptor in docking bay A4-62? Carefully, please."

"Yes, sir!" came the reply.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Captain 'El Jonson out."

They continued walking along the concourse, spying numerous other restaurants and even some stores.

"The sushi place is a few more minutes ahead. I suggest the raw tuna rolls. The place is run by a few Quarren and Mon Calamari, plus a human or two."

"Your TIE Interceptor would still be your property, but I think Ackbar might want to borrow it for a covert op or two."

[Magnus Semaj]

Just within the reach of Home One's radar, a Corellian YT-2000 drops from hyperspace. The engine trails glow a light blue as the engines are placed on 3/4 throttle to come within communications range of the capital class starship

[TieFighterPilot181st]

The two men kept talking as they walked into the restaurant and sat down at a small table. A silver protocal droid came over and took their orders.

"Ill have a mug of Whyren's Reserve and ill have one of everything you got on the menu." The pilot waited as the captain placed his order which was significantly smaller.


"Well first of all dont you think my interceptor would be a little out of place for a covert op i mean most standards interceptors dont come with sheilds, hyperdirve, concusion missiles or turbolasers. But if u want to use it you can as long as anything you take off is done in my supervision and is put back after your're done using it. I wouldnt mind flying a X-Wing or an A-wing or E-wing but i dont think im really the B-wing type they're too slowe for me and Y=Wings are out of the question.

The food came and the pilot began wolfing down his food

[Lion El' Jonson]

"Alright, then...But how about the B-Wing E-2...they're fsater than X-wings, and have some very nice amount of weaponry. You could be one of the first pilots!"

Lion took a bite of sushi, something red and a bit rubbery. It was actually quite good.

"If you don't go for the B-wing, maybe an E-wing...our A-wings aren't aging too well. Also, have a look at the technical library. There's some pretty cool fighter designs in here."

Lion tossed Tie the datapd. It was already keyed for the starfighter section of the library: Fighter Technical Library- New Republic Designs (http://www.thegjo.com/NR/fighters.htm)

"Check out these designs...maybe I'll run you through a couple of them in the simulator."

[TieFighterPilot181st]

The pilot sat chewing thoughtfuly for a minute. Ok i guess i could fly the B-Wing, but what do u mean the A-Wings arent aging too well. And the ship i fly do u think StarCom will let me modify it?
Id like to fly a sim first against the computer first and maybe if i get a job id like to see some of the possible recuits in the sims.

[Lion El' Jonson]

"As by the A-wings not aging well, I mean that they're spending more time in hangars for repairs than they're spending in space."

Lion nodded, accepting the datapad back.

"I'm sure that FleetCom would let you modify your ship...you might have to read through the design charts a few times, B-wings are notoriously complicated. As for recruits...let's see how you fly. You're good enough, and I think we can line up a B-wing squadron for you...maybe even as a wing commander, with enough work."

Lion took another bite, then looked up at Tie.

"So, whaddaya think?"

[TieFighterPilot181st]

alright sounds like a plan but first i gotta eat some dessert.

THe serving droid walked back over and the pilot ordered enough desserts to feed an entire wing of pilots. After he finished he said, "alfight captian im done so what now?"

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion smiled.

"Report to the flight simulators at 2200 tomorrow evening."

Lion paused, then noticed that his watch read 3:00 am.

"Wait, make that 2200 tonight...I'll assign you a rank after assessing your performance."

(ooc: Tomorrow I'll TRY to make a thread in the training forum on this website. I'll title it "Assessing an Ace, or something. See you there.)

[TieFighterPilot181st]

Alright ill be there as soon as i check on my ship. And by the way if necessary for a covert op i got some nice disguises, my ground uniform, dress uniform, Navy Trooper uniform, stormtrooper armor, and i even stole an admirals uniform so if u guys need em just ask

[Lion El' Jonson]

Lion nodded.

"Alright, friend. Get some rest."

Lion was halfway out the door when he realised that he hadn't given Tie a room yet. He pulled a coding cylinder out of his pocket and handed it to Tie.

"That'll get you a room in the visitor's quarters, and access to the hangars and a few other places on the ship...don't get cauht wandering around the armory, though. G'night"

With that, Lion walked away.

[TieFighterPilot181st]

After receiving the coding cylinder the pilot walked towards his room. The room was of prety good size with a small desk a locker and a cot. Actually it was much better than what the pilot was used to. Then the pilot setting his alarm for 2200 lay down to rest after a long journey.